Reforging
by cas.ffn
Summary: Frustrated by Gohan's decision not to train after Cell's defeat, Vegeta takes matters into his own hands.
1. Chapter 1

Gohan snapped shut a thick textbook. In large, silver letters embossed on the cover, the words "Introduction to Calculus" threatened death for any students who were to take the course. Gohan had been struggling through the text for some time now, as evidenced by its broken spine. He had been wrapped in a problem about moving shadows for about an hour now, and the frustration was dancing around him in circles to the point where his brain was tied in a knot and he was ready to tear out his hair and go bald like Krillin. Seeing that he wasn't making progress frustrated as he was, he decided to go outside and take a break.

He alerted his mom to this as he left.

"Have fun, honey!" She called out.

Gohan took flight and reflected, for a moment, on how much healthier, if not happier, his mother had become since the day about two years ago when Goku had died. She needed him in her life, as much as he had angered her. His happy-go-lucky attitude and boundless willpower were as inspiring as his love for deathmatches was irritating, and his unchanging nature was the greatest anchor she could ask for while they raised Gohan in the increasing tumult of their lives. Gohan had always looked up to his father, and after Goku's death he was hardly able to smile for many months, let alone eat or study or train. His mother, too, was hollowed out by the tragedy. Now, however, they both seemed a little stronger for it. And either he was imagining things, or she had become far less restrictive as time went on.

The birth of his little brother had given them new life, even if his resemblance to his father had been a source of sadness at first. With Goten's help, the mother and son were able to regain their holds on life and begin to move past Goku's death. Gohan specifically found that daily exercise helped. It gave him something to do other than study, and having more to do kept life without his father bearable.

Gohan touched down in an empty clearing, a ways away from any civilization he was aware of so as to avoid causing trouble. Here, he began to gather his energy. His aura sputtered at first, but flared up soon enough. When he reached the requisite energy level to transform, he passed the barrier with little trouble. The flames of his aura changed in hue to the trademark gold of Super Saiyan, and the biological changes that came with the form followed quickly. His frame, grown thin by lack of dedicated practice, became about as stocky as it had been in his prime without the aid of Super Saiyan, and his hair turned golden and flowed with some resistance to the wind that gathered in response to his energy.

 _Now, hold it…_ Gohan was referring to his control of the Super Saiyan form as he thought this and began to move very slowly through a _kata_ his father had taught him when they trained together. Controlling the energies of Super Saiyan had become difficult since he stopped training. The form flooded the mind with various hormones that lead to his ki—his inner spirit—fighting any slow and deliberate action. It told him he had to go faster, faster, and push endlessly until he killed what was in front of him or died trying. Controlling the energies of Super Saiyan had been very natural for him after his year-long stay in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but it had been so long since he trained properly that his Super Saiyan was far less potent than before. He was unsure now if he could ascend further as he had against Cell and Bojack anymore. He knew he wouldn't be able to do it intentionally without some trigger at the very least.

The slow, controlled movements quickly became difficult. Controlling the division between his body and mind was taking its toll after only six minutes. Sweat dripped down his face and oiled his body. His mind wandered, and he spent even more energy just trying to focus on the task at hand.

He knew he was far stronger before, but that didn't matter to him now. Gohan hadn't wanted to remain a warrior if he could help it. Now, he simply tried to stay in shape for fun.

Besides, he could feel Vegeta's ki from his home across the continent, and his strength had been growing steadily every day for a year. Gohan could also tell that Vegeta's energies were significantly warmer and more subdued since the Cell games. He had faith that Vegeta could handle the next threat on his own, whenever it happened to come.

So Gohan remained in this grassy clearing, exercising and attracting small animals with his odd energy.

The sense of balance this use of his time brought to him was crushed when he felt Vegeta's ki closing in on the clearing.

Vegeta had never come to him before. Gohan powered down, reverting to his base form, and looked to the skies, waiting for Vegeta to come to him.

Vegeta landed on the other end of the clearing from Gohan. His expression was furious. His arms were crossed, and his feet were spread.

"Vegeta? Did something happen? What's wrong?" Gohan's confusion was clear in his voice.

Vegeta brought his fists to his sides, elbows cocked behind his back. A cry ripped through the air—the cry of a warrior out for blood. The air around him screamed as it reacted with his energy and he entered the Super Saiyan state. What was he trying to prove? He was simply wearing casual clothes. Why had he come so suddenly, and powered up like this to boot?

Vegeta's energy continued to gather and the earth quaked as he reached his full strength. The wildlife that had gathered to spend time with the strange boy absconded at the sight of such a furious man. It was harder to read someone by their energy when they were farther away. Guessing someone's power became more and more difficult with distance. Now, with the Saiyan prince right in front of him, Gohan could say with confidence that Vegeta was far more powerful than he was, and the gap in strength was even larger than he had expected. Vegeta was intimidating, and Gohan realized he had no plan or viable defense if Vegeta were to try and kill him right then and there.

Gohan had been fatigued before, but now he was shocked to attention and his blood ran cold. This power gap was unbridgeable. He had no way of telling if this would be a life-or-death battle or a simple spar. And the difference in power meant that if his life were on the line, whether he kept it or not would simply not be his choice.

It reminded him all too much of the feeling Cell gave him after his father so recklessly tossed him a senzu bean.

Gohan gathered his power again, going Super Saiyan himself. He had to try to survive, at the very least.

Vegeta entered his combat stance radiating control and collection. Gohan hesitated to do the same, giving away that he was scared to fight. He could feel Vegeta's weight shift forward slightly as he prepared to hurl himself at Gohan, and in an instant the man was face-to-face with the boy.

Even with the boost in combat ability from the Super Saiyan transformation, Gohan could barely avoid a kick that had enough force behind it to threaten his decapitation. The barrage of punches that followed was nearly impossible to keep at bay.

"Boy!" Vegeta cried out in fury, "For a year and a half I have had to put up with you coming out here and using the transformation of the legendary warrior of the Saiyan race as some sort of pathetic lightweight exercise! No more!"

Each step forward from Vegeta was a step back for Gohan. Every punch Vegeta threw had precision akin to a razor and threatened to destroy him if his defense was a hair below par. One sloppy foot placement—a left foot extended too far for him to maintain good defensive posture—lead to Gohan being unable to cover himself from attack, and Vegeta capitalized upon it immediately by coming in close to throw Gohan off guard and driving his knee into his gut.

The attack wrenched a painful wail from Gohan's lungs. He doubled over. His aura dropped from a flame to mere wisps as he lost composure. It could not compare to Vegeta's radiance.

"What's the matter, brat?! Did no one teach you how to dodge?!"

Gohan had no answer to such rage, not while he was clutching his stomach, paralyzed from the pain of a blow stronger than any he could dish out.

"You could've beaten me easily two years ago! Now look at you!"

Gohan struggled to raise his hands again. His stamina was already flagging after taking just one hit.

Had he really deteriorated this much so soon?

"If you think just wanting to fight the enemy when they're there in front of you is good enough, think again!" Vegeta bellowed and charged at the boy.

Gohan's shoddy parries and slow eyes were hardly enough to combat Vegeta's calculated and thorough attacks. As Vegeta picked apart Gohan's defense, his fear of death escalated, and in a last-ditch effort, Gohan blindly threw a kick at what he hoped was an opening in Vegeta's defense.

Gohan's foot dug into Vegeta, but he only moved slightly and grunted more in acknowledgement of the attack than in pain from it.

"So I guess you have some fight left somewhere in there."

Vegeta's responding kick was far sharper. Where Gohan simply tossed his foot and prayed, every movement from Vegeta was deliberate and distinct, even at his fastest speeds, and even for the simplest attacks. His ki and movement were perfectly synchronized from hours of perfecting his technique. Gohan couldn't feel the kick as it moved, but he felt it connect, and he felt the force send him through a line of trees which barely were able to slow his momentum.

And then Vegeta was behind him, and caught him.

"I… get it..." Gohan was struggling to breathe.

How did he do so much damage just landing two real hits?

"Really, brat?" Vegeta dropped him to the ground. Gohan's entire body twitched, and he curled in on himself slightly.

"You've turned out to be one hell of a disappointment. Kakarot did everything in his power to defend this planet, and now he's dead. He was so much more powerful than anyone else here that he may as well have been this planet's king. Instead, he chose a simple life and birthed you. As the strongest man alive by far on this backwater dump, any Saiyan would've viewed him as the planet's king regardless of how he acted. When a king dies, his son, the prince, must take the throne. Running away is not an option; he has a kingdom to protect." Vegeta's words had an edge to them. He was forcing his wisdom on Gohan more than he was imparting it.

"If your brain is any good at all, you are aware more threats will come, as they always have and always will. I don't know what about this filthy mud-ball attracts them, but I'm sure it was not simply Kakarot's presence. And if the trends indicate anything, your earthling friends will need all the power they can get to stop their deaths from coming too early. One Saiyan, even if it's me, may just not be enough to stop the next enemy. And someday, you may just be the only one left alive to defend this place.

"You'll have the honor of training with me again tomorrow. Every Saiyan, even a half-breed oddity like yourself, has some fighting spirit in them. I'll find a way to pull it out of you eventually."

Vegeta left Gohan there to lay on the ground, trembling and wounded in both body and spirit. As Vegeta became a speck in the sky, Gohan lifted himself to his feet and spat the blood from his mouth.

Flying while injured like this was going to be a pain.

* * *

Chi-Chi had been washing a dirty plate when a zombie-like form entered her kitchen, threatening to collapse on her newly-cleaned floor. It took a moment before she recognized the shuffling shape as her wounded son.

"Gohan?! How did this happen to you?! Who did this?!" She ran to the door and placed her hands on his shoulders, on the verge of tears seeing him in clear pain.

Gohan simply shook his head.

Chi-Chi knew that no one was likely to reach the power of the boy who defeated Cell, even now as he hadn't been training. She quickly deduced that it must have been Vegeta, the only other Saiyan she knew was alive. Chi-Chi was more keen to matters than she let on.

"Gohan, you're grounded!" She shrilled.

"What…?" Her son's black eyes struggled to meet hers.

"I'm not letting you leave this house again while that crazy man is hunting you like this! If he comes to our house tomorrow, I'll give him a piece of my mind!" She huffed. Gohan knew that she wasn't incredibly powerful, but he felt the anger radiating off of her and mistook it for frustration with himself.

"Sorry, mom…"

Chi-Chi was quick to realize a misunderstanding had occurred, and the anger seemed to drain from her entirely. "Honey," she cooed, "This isn't your fault. You didn't do this to yourself. You have nothing to apologize for. I'm not angry at you. That man, on the other hand..." she paused, and growled audibly, "He had better not come here tomorrow. I'll kill him." The tone of her voice reminded Gohan of his father when he first became a Super Saiyan.

Gohan went to sleep that night scared for his mother. Vegeta's attack seemed so impulsive that he worried that the man would not restrain himself from killing her if she got in his way. However, at the same time, Vegeta's respect for his father might keep him from it.

There was just no telling. The anxiety that filled Gohan's core did not recede, even as he slipped into sleep. For the first time in many months, Gohan's sleep was full of nightmares. Nightmares of brutal deathmatches and dying family and friends.


	2. Chapter 2

Gohan stirred in the middle of the night. Once he realized he was awake, he opened his eyes to find that the same darkness that saw him to sleep waiting for him to awaken. The anxiety that accompanied him to rest was still there when he woke up, a boulder in his stomach. He also could feel an ache where Vegeta landed his kicks the day before. Gohan tried to return to sleep, but his body was uncooperative, so instead he threw his covers from his body and lifted himself from his bed. His muscles cried out in protest, wishing to rest from their thrashing the previous day, but Gohan knew that he wasn't getting back to sleep and therefore idling was useless. Knowing the source of his nervousness, he decided to train.

Gohan then opened his closet and retrieved his gi. He shook it out; it was dust-covered from years of being left in his closet. The purple outfit hardly fit now, but it would do well enough for what he had in mind. He unlatched his window, trying hard to stay silent. Gohan considered, for a moment, the fact that he was "grounded." He understood it meant little to a superpowered being like himself, and yet he did fear what would happen if his mom found out he was leaving the house now. This was why he put so much effort into being quiet.

A springly breeze nipped at Gohan's skin with some friendliness. The window creaked slightly as he pushed the panels apart, but not loud enough to wake anybody. Assured he wasn't noticed, he leapt through and took flight. He flew quite a ways and didn't touch down until he was in the Northern Wastelands, near where Frieza had landed when he came for his revenge.

Here, there was no need to hold back his power. Gohan didn't want to go Super Saiyan, but he began to gather his energy. As his energy began to flow through and out of him, the breeze was pushed away from his body until he could no longer feel it. Satisfied with the power he gathered, Gohan stretched and begin to perform the kiai that Vegeta had interrupted.

The techniques that Gohan's teachers had used were firmly etched into his mind. Every strike, parry, and block could be performed on demand, and he was unable to forget the forms he had been taught to apply them all in combat. Although his mind knew what was asked of him, his body was not as willing to comply. Gohan's strikes turned out sloppy; he could feel how weak his punches would be against a true opponent.

 _Have I really weakened this much so soon?_

A bad foot placement answered his question, and Gohan tripped, spiraling towards the ground. To avoid slamming into the ground, he flung himself away with his other foot and took to the air. He was hovering over the Wasteland now, but in spirit he sunk deeper than before. In the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he hadn't tripped unless he was practicing controlling the Super Saiyan form, which had made his body feel entirely foreign and wild when he activated it, as if he was a toddler only just learning to walk.

Now, though, his lack of training made even his regular body feel slippery and useless.

When he fired a Kamehameha wave at an outcropping of rock, Gohan could feel that it was not representative of his full potential. He couldn't draw the energy for the attack from his body efficiently, or control the wave's power very well. Because of his rustiness, when the head of the wave crashed against the rock, it detonated with extreme force and created a very large crater. In the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Gohan had been able to fire an energy wave like that and control the detonation so that the damage was localized to his target.

He really had lost control of his power.

 _What would happen if Cell, or someone stronger, came now to attack the Earth?_

Gohan didn't need someone else to answer the question for him. He knew that if a threat as terrifying as Cell appeared now, no one would be likely to survive.

Gohan returned home exhausted and frustrated from his short training session and fell asleep.

* * *

He was in the desert again. Time had gone back two years. He was watching as the Cell Juniors brought each Z-Fighter systematically to their knees, and prepared to kill them all.

"Stop this, Cell! That's enough!" Gohan exclaimed, and his body swelled as his energy spiked.

His life energy affected every cell of his body as he ascended past Super Saiyan. His energy had become "denser" in a sense—not increasing in weight but in concentration. As a result, his power increased immensely for only a slight change in bulk, and the shift in his ki makeup brought his movements to a speed that he had believed was entirely out of his reach.

In the middle of the transformation, though, his fear took over. _I'm not this strong!_ He thought, and his body listened. The transformation reversed itself. He reverted to Super Saiyan, and struggled to grasp the ascended power again. But he needed it! His friends lives were on the line!

He couldn't reach ascension, it slipped further through his hands with his efforts. His power decreased even further—he reverted to his base form.

"Gohan, what happened?" Cell jeered, imitating the tone of a concerned mother before reverting to his normal superior inflection. "I thought you were supposed to show me some mind-blowing power. You can't even hold Super Saiyan anymore?" He laughed. "Well, at least Goku was some fun." He turned to the Cell Juniors. "Get on with it. Kill the weaklings."

"No!" Gohan screamed and leaped at Cell. With the weight of the world on his shoulders, the boy was sluggish. His power was draining from him at an impossible rate. As he went to throw a punch at the turned monster, his skin began to wrinkle and dry and turn grey. When he connected the punch, his arm burst apart and turned to dust. In the distance, he saw a Cell Junior hold up the severed head of Goku Son.

"Father!" Gohan's shock and grief filled his voice as tears filled his eyes.

A blue bug-like arm pierced the heart of Vegeta and threw him down the hill, face down into the sand below.

"Vegeta! I'm sorry!" Gohan dropped to his knees. His tears pelted the desert sand. There was nothing he could do.

The bodies of his human friends—Krillin, Tien, Yamcha—landed at his feet. They were mutilated by monsters they never could have defeated without monstrous power of their own. A level of power that was, for a moment, inches from his reach.

The bodies turned their heads to look at him. Their stares were blank, eyes rolled back towards their brains and their pupils hidden, but their mouths moved, jaunty hinges of meat.

"You could have saved us, Gohan," Tien, Krillin, and Yamcha said.

* * *

Gohan was saved from the warped memory of his past by waking up, and returned to his bed in the present with a shout. The ache in his gut had moved to his left shoulder, where a scar resided from the energy blast he took to save Vegeta from a death at the hands of Cell. The senzu beans had healed the damage he suffered but some scars wouldn't leave, Dende had told him.

Gohan had counted every day he had gone without a nightmare of the Cell games, and it had been almost a year since his last. He didn't need any psychologist or detective to explain why they returned now. Gohan didn't want to ponder the extent of his weakness for too long, however. In the months after his father died, he learned that thinking harder was not usually a good response when a situation was troubling him.

So, he left bed again and went downstairs for breakfast. When his mom asked what that scream was, he simply said he had a nightmare. Chi-Chi pointed out that it had been a while, and he said he knew.

After finishing his breakfast, Gohan helped with chores around the house. He cleaned up after his meal (a task easier said than done because of the amount Saiyans eat), and he caught a fish for the night's dinner. He then went into the small hut to the side of the Son home that belonged to Grandpa Gohan, his great-grandfather. Gohan cleaned up the small hut every once in a while, a little more often than he had before now that there was a small shrine to his father established within.

The progression of his day was halted when he felt the ground rumble and heard what sounded like a detonating explosive outside.

He already knew what it was, but he went out to see Vegeta, screaming that he had to come to "fight Kakarot's brat of a boy." Before he could respond to Vegeta's demands, Chi-Chi burst from the door of the Son home.

Chi-Chi stomped her way up to Vegeta, and jabbed her index finger against his nose. Despite her lack of physical strength, Gohan could feel the sparks from the clash of wills from where he stood.

"Who do you think you are?! First you beat my son, and now you try to force him to fight you again?! At my house, no less! Leave him and our family alone!" Vegeta clearly was irritated by her tone.

"I'm the prince of all Saiyans, and I won't have some weakling talk to me that way! The boy can talk to me himself if he has a problem!"

"Gohan doesn't want to be a warrior; he wants to be a scholar! Things are peaceful now; he doesn't have to be a muscle-bound knucklehead like his father was!" Neither Chi-Chi nor Gohan was sure whether the woman herself or her grief over the circumstances behind Goku's death were doing more of the talking.

It was now that Vegeta decided to take notice of Gohan. He looked over from Chi-Chi to the boy who was standing awkwardly as the two grown-ups argued about his future. "So you need mommy to fight your battles for you, huh?" Gohan didn't meet Vegeta's eyes. He flushed, and his embarrassment radiated off of him in waves. Satisfied with his power over the boy, Vegeta returned his focus to the boy's angry mother, although his next statement easily could have addressed them both.

"You're a dolt if you think that this peace will last forever! Stronger foes will come who neither your wimpy human warriors or that pitiful Namek will be able to handle!"

"Well, if you were really Goku's rival, some new enemy shouldn't be a problem, should it?!"

Vegeta visibly recoiled. Chi-Chi had landed the first blow in this fight. "You…" Vegeta seemed at a loss for words. His expression changed slightly as he came to a decision and hopped back away from Chi-Chi about 10 paces. "I am a warrior! The Saiyan prince!" Vegeta raged, "I'm not merely some icon who you can call on for help whenever you wish!"

Vegeta's deep blue aura enveloped him, a physical representation of his rage. "As a matter of fact—" Vegeta sprung into the air, and continued, "Just for that mockery of my power, I'll blow your puny home to pieces! How's that?!" The movement to prepare his attack was full-body: he turned himself almost around and was pointing both his palms forward.

"Galick Gun!" Vegeta called out the name of his attack. His aura took on a purple hue and exploded out in every direction. He gave off an intense heat that could be felt by Gohan and Chi-Chi on the ground below.

Chi-Chi entered a fighting stance. She was willing to do anything to defend her home. Regardless of her will, she could feel the heat of the energy Vegeta was gathering, and her countenance betrayed her inner fear.

Gohan finally realized that Vegeta may not have been bluffing. "Vegeta, no!" He screamed out, a desperate, misguided, futile attempt to persuade him not to attack.

Vegeta laughed, "You know, if I set my sights on destroying the planet again, there'd be no one left to stop me now that Kakarot's bit the dust! Fire!" Vegeta straightened his body and threw out his arms, propelling a hot ball of purple fire down towards mother and son.

Chi-Chi might have been more willing than even Goku to defend her home, but she was too slow and weak to counter such an intense direct directed her way. Gohan leapt in front of her and thrust his hands out to catch Vegeta's attack.

A grunt left Gohan's lips as the fiery ball made contact with his hands. "So hot… It's overwhelming! How can Vegeta put out this much power without even going Super Saiyan?!" Without transforming, Gohan simply didn't have the strength to alter its momentum.

Gohan struggled against the force of the blast until he was certain his base form simply would not be enough to counter it, and at that moment he decided to transform. He reflected back to his nightmare and opened the floodgates.

Taking on the power of the Super Saiyan felt like a river bursting through a dam. The feeling had never become quite old to Gohan, and especially now, with the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he found himself relishing the feeling. He was able to easily hurl the Galick Gun blast upward to worm its way through the atmosphere. Content he had saved his home, Gohan lowered his arms, stood straight, and leveled his gaze to face Vegeta.

Even with the assistance of Super Saiyan, deflecting the blast was a significant effort. Gohan realized that in that short span of time he had begun to sweat profusely, and he was barely holding together; Gohan could feel his muscles wishing for him to let them collapse. Vegeta wouldn't be able to notice (Gohan hoped), but he had to consciously manipulate the way his ki flowed in his body to avoid his muscles twitching and giving away how much strength the blast had sapped from him.

"It's time for you to go, Vegeta."

"Hah! You had to go Super Saiyan to deflect that?!" Vegeta scoffed. "Pathetic, but you can still atone for this disgrace."

"You should listen to your Saiyan instincts, brat. If you became a warrior, no one except for me would be able to stand in your way. The life of a pacifist isn't for you." Vegeta paused for a moment, then concluded with the line, "Come to me when you know what is right for you and your race." The air whined as his blue aura flared around him again, and it trailed after him as he again left Gohan to his own devices.

"Thank Kami… he's gone." Gohan exhaled, and a significant helping of ki flowed from his body. At the same time, the power of the Super Saiyan left him, and his black hair returned. Gohan began to tremble, not from fear but from exhaustion. His arms quaked first, his legs followed, and a moment later his knees and elbows slammed down into the dirt beneath him. Drops of his sweat began to pelt the ground. "That much power… in his base form…" Gohan panted.

That morning, Gohan had been worried about threats from beyond the atmosphere coming to destroy his home.

He hadn't realized that the first person to dwarf him so significantly in strength—strong enough to be able to end the planet without any chance of being stopped—would be someone who he knew for almost his whole life, who now also called Earth his home.

* * *

When Vegeta attempted to destroy her home, Chi-Chi had an awakening of a sort. She wanted to believe that Goku's death had a silver lining, and that the silver lining was that her son would never have to fight again, because who else would all these villains be after but her amazingly strong husband?

Chi-Chi had not been that close to danger since Piccolo and Goku had fought, back at the twenty-third Tenkaichi Budōkai, and her last battle was against Goku at the same tournament. She had never had to feel the heat of an energy blast threaten to take her life. She never had to formulate a plan to save herself from it, especially not while factoring in the Earth and bystanders. Hell, she had never even died like many of Earth's defenders have.

What Vegeta put her and her son through helped her understand what the world was up against more than she ever had before. While the Son family was eating dinner, Chi-Chi decided to speak up.

"Gohan." She began, turning her head to face him at the head of the table as he was devouring a meaty slab of steak.

"Hmm? What's up mom?" Was what he tried to say. However, his massive morsel puffed out his cheeks and made conversation impossible.

"Swallow your food before you talk!" Chi-Chi admonished.

Gohan chewed for what felt like an hour (but was in actuality perhaps half a minute), and did not speak again until after an audible swallow. "What's going on?"

"It should be your choice what path you want to take in life. You're Goku's son, and I know you could be stronger than anyone in the universe if you tried, and that the world needs a champion who's pure of heart to reign madmen like Vegeta in. I know I've raised a good boy, and I've decided that as long as you don't end up irresponsible like your father and grow into a well put-together man, I would have no problem with you training again." Chi-Chi paused, and when she realized Gohan was expecting more, she continued. "I've just been afraid of seeing you hurt your whole life. But I suppose the world will end up needing power like yours again, and since you beat Cell, I doubt anyone would be capable of beating you if you trained the way your father did. You have my permission, if it's what you want."

Gohan hadn't expected her to say anything of that sort at all, and Chi-Chi's words left his jaw hanging open.

"Gohan?"

"Wow, I…" Gohan scratched the nape of his neck—a classic Son family gesture. "I never expected you to say something like that to me, mom…!"

Chi-Chi huffed. "Don't make me regret this, young man."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading and for your reviews on the last chapter! I'm glad to see that people enjoy my writing! Please continue to let me know what you think; criticisms and complements are appreciated alike!**


	3. Chapter 3

Exhausted as he was, Gohan was quick to fall asleep. A massive white void greeted him in his dreams. Gohan's immediate reaction was to lift his legs, shifting his weight onto his back, and to use his arms to throw himself onto his feet and into a combat-ready position.

Once the adrenaline rush of waking up somewhere you didn't recognize faded off, Gohan allowed his arms to lower and his body to straighten. The sense of danger he felt still overflowed his senses and made it impossible to feel out any signatures from other life. With no landmarks in sight and no resources to sustain him, Gohan concluded that he should explore slowly. On his first step, he realized that what he was wearing felt familiar, but wasn't like anything he had worn since Cell died. He looked down at himself. To his surprise, he was wearing a perfectly-fitted suit of Saiyan armor—something he no longer had in real life. The blue under-armor hugged his body and the bulky vest seemed to weigh him down.

Gohan took another step and immediately realized the armor wasn't weighing him down; the gravity here was far heavier than home, or even within the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. If he had trained, it wouldn't be a struggle to maintain a brisk pace, but his untrained body and now lackluster ki control made walking feel difficult.

The past two years had been almost eventless. Why now were so many things aligning just right to make Gohan's decision not to train into a living nightmare?

After hours of walking, Gohan's forehead had been caked in sweat. Taking more steps had become a strenuous effort. Every fiber of every muscle in his hind leg activated and pushed forward for another step forward, but his leg came down and couldn't bear the weight any longer, sending Gohan down onto one knee. His chest heaved and he struggled to lift himself up.

 _I don't want to die here! Not like this…! Not when I don't even know where I am!_

What felt to be hours of walking had brought Gohan nowhere, and now, in such a moment of need, a tear was created in the misty white expanse. Gohan realized instinctively that this was his only chance to avoid death in the hot white expanse. He gathered all of his strength and barely managed to fling his fatigued body through the portal.

The tear in reality spat him out upon the roof of a tall building. The gravity here was far lighter—just as light as home's. Moving was far easier; Gohan rose to his feet with ease and his fatigue shed itself from his body. The scene before him was alarming: whatever city he had found himself in was completely destroyed. Any standing buildings were ravaged, and of any others no evidence but a splintered foundation remained. Crates pocked the roads and cars were smashed into the remnants of buildings.

"No way… what did this?" Oddly enough, Gohan knew before he had even asked. It had been the androids, and this was the timeline of Future Trunks. He had no idea why he knew, or what exactly told him. But he knew.

A ki signature spiked behind Gohan, and the sensation of power flooded his mind and forced him to turn. Immediately after the ki spiked, an explosion quaked the building Gohan was standing on. He leapt off of it as it fell and held himself in the air.

The sounds of nearly sonic-speed combat filled the air, and as Gohan focused he caught sight of the combatants: a lone man with one arm fighting a pair of dainty human-like enemies.

 _That's horrible! Where is their pride?!_ Gohan had never thought about the "pride" of a warrior before. Had he spent too much time around Vegeta already? Gohan tried to bring himself to the scene to intervene, but some power kept him rooted to the spot.

 _He needs help! Why can't I move?!_ Gohan entered Super Saiyan, but it made no difference. He was sure his power outstripped that of the outnumbered man, but despite most likely being able to sense ki, the one-armed man didn't even seem to notice. Gohan had to resign himself to simply watching the fight.

The man looked remarkably like his father. On closer inspection, the man looked almost like him. His full memory of Future Trunks' story flowed back to him at once, and he realized that this was his future self.

 _So this me is destined to die… and all I can do is sit here and watch!_

The Future Gohan seemed to be saying something as the androids approached him from either side. Gohan could not hear, but it didn't matter—after the next exchange of blows, his future self was down face-first in the road, killed by a barrage of searing ki blasts from the duo. Gohan felt the emotions of his future self as he died: the despair and rage, the self-loathing and guilt of living every day with a weight on your shoulders you never had a hope of being able to carry to the finish, a task you could never see through. He felt himself drowning in those emotions, being dragged to the pits of hell with them as if he was dying with that man. Hands he could not see grabbed Gohan and pulled him away from that world.

The invisible hands dispensed of Gohan by throwing them into the scene of a tournament. He immediately saw a similar looking adult man who gave off a far happier demeanor, talking to someone who was bloated out by some shadow his senses could not penetrate. Gohan could sense this one's ki—he instinctively knew that it was only slightly stronger than his was now and that it was just as pitiful in comparison to Vegeta's as his had been since he stopped training.

 _Does this mean I might never get my strength back?_ Gohan did not understand why he was being shown all of this.

In a flash, hours passed and everything changed. He didn't see it, but he felt the world cry out as its population was killed off by a single attack by an ancient monster, who the same version of himself was battling. What he felt surprised him—the power this version of himself now possessed far outstripped his own, even that which he possessed when fighting Cell, and he hadn't even transformed into Super Saiyan to obtain it. Despite his raw strength, this Gohan was too dull to efficiently take out his opponent, and got cocky after the battle seemed to come to an end. He saw this Gohan picked apart after a tactical mistake led to the absorption of Piccolo and some other allies he didn't fully recognize, but could presume were his little brother and Vegeta's son.

 _Losing this way… how humiliating. I would be ashamed of myself._ The thought that appeared in Gohan's mind startled him. When had he ever thought that way before?

He was whisked even further ahead. He saw himself as a great scholar, lending a scientific mind to the progress of the domestic world every day, but his power had become hardly a fraction of what he possessed now. He was facing off against a lanky pale man whose name was "Tagoma." He felt the desperation this Gohan had, knowing that he should be able to beat such a weak warrior without too much power. However, he had to go Super Saiyan, and it seemed very difficult for him to do so. He felt the strain such a rudimentary transformation took on his future self, and the undertone of shame that broadcast itself in the moves that defeated his opponent. The vision faded away, and the cloudy whiteness surrounded Gohan again.

When the world needed him the most, Gohan fell short because his effort was almost always-last minute. He realized now that if things continued like this, he would never learn, but he wasn't sure that training endlessly like his father was how he wanted to go through life.

Surely, there was another way?

Gohan pondered as he again walked, but his thoughts had to be placed aside when he noticed what appeared to be a solitary black flame in the distance. Gohan could feel a powerful energy from it, so he broke into a run. When he closed in, Gohan realized that the energy was far from normal. It seemed twisted, as if the creature giving it off had to twist his humanity beyond recognition to obtain it.

Gohan began to draw out his power as soon as he realized things might not be safe. However, the flame seemed far longer when he came close, and the heat it gave off was intense enough that approaching within ten meters was impossible. The man's aura gave off gusts almost strong enough to push Gohan off his feet in spite of the heavy gravity of the strange place.

A tangled scream ripped through the air, and all at once the aura disappeared. The man who owned the aura was revealed. His skin was a somber gray. It possessed the patchiness and texture of leather, as far as Gohan could tell—a stark contrast to the colorful outfit he wore that seemed like an alternative to the gis martial artists wore.

"Get out of here," the man commanded.

"I… can't," Gohan replied. _As far as I know_.

"Then I'm going to kill you."

Gohan didn't have a chance to reply. The man hurled himself from the ground and sped towards Gohan, one arm braced for a punch. Gohan could feel the strength emanating from the man—he might have been even stronger than Gohan himself was when he fought Cell. Gohan was terrified, but the fighter in him knew that he had no time to panic. Gohan threw up his left arm and braced it with his right. A larger movement like a dodge would've been impossible, his instincts told him, and eating the hit directly might've been enough to tear his head off.

The punch tore Gohan from the ground when it connected. He used his ki to avoid having to come down—hovering mere feet above the ground, he positioned his lead hand outward as a measure to keep a reasonable space between him and his foe.

"Who are you?!"

"I am Lapel." The man turned his head to face Gohan again from where he stood, and a sharp gaze bore its way into his heart.

The ground beneath Lapel splintered as he threw himself towards Gohan again. Every motion was the same down to the movements of the hairs on his body, and Gohan ducked to avoid a punch, believing he was going to dodge the same attack that he had to block moments before. Lapel landed just in front of Gohan as he was doubled and crouched down while moving his chambered fist for an uppercut. As rusty as he was, Gohan's reactions weren't able to get him out of having to take the attack. Lapel's fist buried itself into Gohan's stomach, and he came up from his crouch at the same time to further its momentum for maximum damage.

Gohan staggered back, regaining his footing slightly with each step. As soon as he was able to move his feet with deliberation, Lapel was upon him again. His attacks were swifter this time, with their speed accentuated by his thin body.

 _With a body like that, how is he getting so much power out of these punches?! His motions must be perfect!_ Gohan was barely able to keep Lapel from tearing into him, and the mysterious warrior's far greater energy reserves meant that Gohan would wear down first, making the situation even more dire on top of Lapel's superior power, speed, and technique.

 _I have no chance of even landing a hit! No chance…!_

It felt like hours that Gohan and Lapel engaged in this combat, but Gohan knew it was closer to a minute and a half. More importantly, he was tiring quickly. So little time had passed, but Lapel's attacked were strong enough that Gohan was constantly on the defensive. Every step he took had to take him away from Lapel, every swing of the arm that may have been a punch became a parry or block. _This is bad…!_ Gohan could feel his energy draining from every pore in his body with each step. _I can't keep this up! I'm going to die here…!_ After many punches failed to connect, Lapel threw a sharp hook that found its target in Gohan's cheek and opened him up. Lapel cocked his rear arm back. Gohan could feel the energy pouring into it, and he knew it would kill if it connected. _I have to do something...!_

Gohan mustered all of his strength and redirected the cross, thrown to kill, so that it only contacted air, and Lapel used the momentum to spin himself on his lead foot, prepare an axe kick, and bring his rear heel down against Gohan's left shoulder.

Pain exploded from Gohan's collarbone. He felt his arm shift out of place. He stumbled, opened his mouth, and screamed, but screaming didn't take away the pain.

"This is for killing my people." Lapel raised one hand, and his energy began to pour into it.

It took everything Gohan had simply not to fall to his knees. His legs shook. His left arm felt like it would fall off.

"Killing—your people?" Gohan stuttered out. "I wouldn't harm a single soul if I could help it!"

"You're a liar! Just like every one of your kind!" Lapel barked, "And now you'll pay the price, just like all of them did!" The energy was accumulating at an alarming rate.

 _I only have one chance to save myself!_ Gohan had to dig deep. Most of his ki was gone, but what he had was enough for what he was going to do.

"Die!" Lapel swing his arm down to bring the energy ball down on Gohan, and in the moment, Gohan focused the ki he gathered into his legs and sprung. He used the ki to alter his momentum and get behind Lapel.

 _Perfect!_

Lapel began to turn, but the commitment of the energy attack slowed his speed and made reacting difficult.

Gohan raised his good hand and made a finger gun pointing at Lapel's chest. The energy of the attack gathered there. _A precision shot with all of the power I have!_ A ball of orange energy gathered at his fingertip, far denser than the energy output of a usual energy wave.

"Ha!" Gohan fired the attack, and the dense beam of energy pierced Lapel's chest. The man's eyes widened and he fell to his knees, clutching the open wound, then to the ground. Gohan, spent by that last maneuver, fell, slamming into the ground shoulder-first. "I did it…"

Gohan now realized that he fell very close to Lapel. Face to face with him, Gohan realized that Lapel had a dead man's eyes.

"I thought I killed all of your kind. I'm going to come to your home, without this dreamscape limiting my power. I'm going to bring justice to every one of you horrible thieves. You'll pay for taking everything I—" The black fire of Lapel's aura enveloped him, and when it disappeared it was as if he had never been there to begin with, keeping him from finishing his declaration of war.

Hanging on to consciousness was becoming more and more difficult. Gohan allowed the white void to swallow him whole, and he slipped away from the dream world.

* * *

 **Hello! Sorry this took so long to get out! Real life stuff has kept me very occupied and unable to do much writing. As this chapter shows, I'm planning on introducing more original characters and I'm considering developing characters in slightly different directions than they were taken in canon. Honestly, I'm nervous because I'm new to this and want to do them justice. Feel free to offer suggestions and let me know what I can do better! Any and all criticism is appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 4

Gohan awoke in a cold sweat from the all-too-real dream of fighting an opponent he could barely defeat. He had many questions, and was hardly any closer to figuring out what to do with himself. Hoping some morning exercise would clear his head, he decided to go on a short run after breakfast—maybe just twenty miles or so, just to take his mind off his odd dream.

"Good morning, Gohan!" Chi-Chi chirped as he came downstairs for breakfast. "Well, you look tired. Did you sleep okay?"

Gohan muttered an affirmative. He didn't want to tell his mother about his dream. The boy hated to make his mother worry, especially as busy as she was now with Goten, and the nightmare he had did indeed seem worrying.

After breakfast, Gohan changed from his pajamas into his gi and started into the woods surrounding his home. He hadn't gone on a run in a long time, but someone who still had the power to go Super Saiyan wouldn't be fazed by a mere jog.

A light breeze caressed the trees and carried the smell of fresh greenery through the air. Gohan's Saiyan nose took it in with delight—a full-blooded Saiyan would find the smells of the charred battlefield and dead opponents more satisfying, but Gohan's gentle human nature preferred something peaceful such as this. He broke into a jog on the forest path.

After around a half-mile or so, he found himself getting bored. Craving a challenge. So, he transformed into a Super Saiyan. _It's too early for Vegeta to come out to punish me. I hope._ Distracted as he was by his dream, even a feeble justification such as this was enough for Gohan to not see a significant risk to the transformation. He determined that he would hold Super Saiyan for the whole run, despite the usual issues that attempting to maintain the form this way brought him these days.

The sensation of power that came with Super Saiyan was amazing, and already even stronger than the last time he fought Vegeta. Regardless, just like before, the effort that it took to control the raging beast of the legendary warrior undermined any advantage the form could grant. Outside of an urgent, life or death situation, all it did was make controlling oneself more difficult. One who became a Super Saiyan for the first time was very likely to fall prey to his killing urges. The first time Gohan had transformed into a Super Saiyan, he struggled to keep his inner beast from taking over and attacking his very own father. He couldn't regain control and maintain the transformation at the same time, so it had left him as if he was unworthy of it.

After his time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Gohan's mastery of Super Saiyan was only paralleled by his own father's. Now, however, controlling it had become difficult, like riding an unruly horse. Furthermore, Vegeta had caught up to him in this skill, as the younger halfling could tell from the nature of the prince's aura. Gohan figured, without question, that his father still held mastery over the form as well.

 _And dad is probably looking down on me, disappointed because I'm not living up to his desires..._

Thinking about his dad tended to start streams of negative thoughts for Gohan. They weren't good for his control, especially when maintaining control of Super Saiyan was already difficult without frequent practice. Gohan's inner frustrations began to seep through and he sped up. Golden aura left his body in small wisps, independent of his will. Before he realized it, he was running at peak human speed, which was far from the goal of his little exercise.

Slowing down again was very deliberate. His muscles roared against his commands with the anger of one who had their greatest love held from them. Or, perhaps, their addiction would be more accurate. The Super Saiyan, at its core, was meant to fight, and a Saiyan tapping into that power had to suffer under the relentless urge for battle even more than a Saiyan normally would.

It was a taxing process, but Gohan's will was able to win out. The half-Saiyan reduced himself to a human jogging speed and suppressed the glowing flames of the Super Saiyan's power once again.

Just in time, too. He could see a pair of people on the path ahead. His ability to sense ki and his enhanced basic senses meant he noticed them long before they noticed him, luckily. It helped that they seemed distracted and arguing about something.

Gohan took the chance to return to his base form. He wasn't sure how much people remembered from the Cell Games, but having people crawling around East District hunting for the Delivery Boy would be problematic. He decided not to say anything as he passed the people, but when he jogged by one of them spoke up.

"Hey!" One of them, a brown-haired boy who appeared to be just a few years older than Gohan, spoke up, "Can you help us? We were hiking, but we've gotten a little, uh… lost."

Gohan slowed to a walk. "Uh… sure! Where are you trying to go?"

"Well, since we got lost we wanted to find the way back to the start of the path, but someone—" he glared at his companion, "Lost the map."

The girl, who seemed to be his little sister, judging by their similar appearances, looked away from the accusing glare.

"Alright. Just one second!" Gohan pushed off from the ground and began to levitate in the air, pushing himself up through the trees.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" The boy shouted, and the girl gasped. Their surprise was natural, considering how rare flying people were.

Gohan reached a decent vantage point in the sky and looked around until he identified a parking lot near the exit of the woods with a large red pickup truck parked in it on its lonesome.

"Do you have a truck?!" He yelled down into the trees.

The boy cupped his hands and shouted, "Yes! Which way is it?!"

"I'll just take you!" Gohan began to lower himself to ground level.

The idea of flight clearly made the boy nervous. "You… you don't have to do that…" The boy's emotions were entirely lost on Gohan.

"Well, it's easier for you, right?" He didn't get a chance to respond before Gohan grabbed them each by the hand and sprung into the air.

The pair screamed wildly as Gohan took them up. It was at this point he remembered that most people aren't used to flying without planes or helicopters, but it was too late to drop them. Fortunately, once their altitude leveled off and it became clear Gohan wouldn't let go, they settled down.

The flight to the parking lot was silent and awkward, until Gohan heard the boy talking to himself.

"Okay, get this: I'm flying right now!" He held what appeared to be some new cell phone at arm's length and swept his arm slowly across the forest. "This is crazy! We got lost in the East District cause we were going hiking, right? And Cyga loses the map—" This elicited a shout from the girl that it definitely wasn't her fault, "And we ask this kid for directions. But he just picked us up like its nothing and he's carrying us back off the trail! And we're flying! Woah!"

The girl glowered, and opened her mouth to speak. "Every time! Your video journals ruin it every time we hang out!" She snapped.

"You know that's not true! And besides, this needs to be recorded! It's amazing!"

Gohan, after hearing them talk about "video journals" and "recording" stuff, realized it would be very bad if any footage of him using his powers reached others' eyes.

"Um… you're not going to… release that… are you? Like put it on the internet?"

The boy's energy changed like someone who had been caught in the act of stealing.

"Well… I was…" He admitted.

"Could you please just delete it? I don't want anyone seeing me and learning about what I can do. Please?"

The boy became visibly upset at Gohan's request for censorship. "But this is amazing! You're incredible!"

"Please? I like my privacy and I want things to stay this way," Gohan pleaded. People might start coming out to his secluded little home if they learned he had superpowers. It wasn't a huge leap to make from there that he was one of the fighters at the Cell Games, one of those strange men who could fly and shoot lasers from their hands. Some people would be curious, but others might be afraid, and Gohan didn't want that.

His power was supposed to help people, after all.

The boy mulled on that for a moment. "Well, I can blur you out. No one would know it was you!"

The girl groaned, but Gohan seemed somewhat satisfied with this compromise. "Alright, I guess." They didn't fly for much longer before they arrived at their destination.

"Looks like we're here!" Gohan lowered down enough for both hikers to touch the ground, and then followed suit once they got their footing.

"Thank you for carrying us," the young man paused as he realized he didn't know Gohan's name. "... what was your name?"

"My name's Gohan," he said. Internally, he imagined his mother telling him off for not introducing himself first. Not that he got much practice meeting people.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Gohan. I'm Lighter," he man introduced himself and thrust out his hand. Gohan hesitated for a moment, but then shook it.

 _What a strange name,_ Gohan thought, entirely neglecting his own namesake.

"I have to go," Gohan excused himself, "My mom's going to worry if I'm not home soon." He turned away from the pair to make his exit.

"Wait." The word seemed to erect a wall in front of Gohan himself. He felt something he couldn't quite pin a word on in the aura of Cyga, who was standing behind him. Some sort of suspicion?

"What're the odds that some country bumpkin like you has superpowers? And so much like the ones that monster Cell had..."

Gohan's heart dropped. She had come very close to nailing what he was.

"Oh, don't mind her," Lighter interjected, "She's one of those people who thinks Mister Satan wasn't the one who killed Cell. Weird, right?" Lighter chuckled.

"Of course he didn't, there's no way!" The girl exclaimed to Lighter, then looked to Gohan for support. "C'mon, back me up here! You're the one with superpowers!"

"Mister Satan?" Gohan took a moment to process this new topic of conversation. As he realized who they were talking about, the shock hit him. "He said he killed Cell?!" Gohan knew he couldn't just inform them who really did the deed, but he couldn't mask his utter bewilderment at the scale of the lie that the man had told.

Luckily, the people in front of him didn't catch on to the fact that he knew who really killed the android. "Yeah! Crazy, right? There's nothing some good old-fashioned martial arts can't accomplish!"

 _They think that man's martial arts is "old-fashioned…?"_ Gohan seemed at a loss for words. Having seen Mister Satan in action, he thought the man's "martial arts" were somewhat lacking. "Wow. That's… um. Amazing. Yeah." He couldn't meet Lighter's eye.

"Isn't it?! They established a national holiday on the day of the Cell games, and there's a parade in Orange Star City every year! Plus, don't tell anyone you heard this, but I got some inside info that they're renaming the city after him this year! What a guy!"

"Yeah…"

"Well, we'll see you around, I guess! Thanks again!" Lighter waved and began to walk back to his old pickup truck.

Cyga, however, hung back. "Before Cell showed up, and those fighters came to stop him, I thought people with crazy superpowers were only in comic books." This was all the talking she had done to Gohan so far, and her voice was very serious compared to Lighter's. "If people have powers like that, they should use them to help people. Crime's still higher than it was before Cell appeared and all. It's a scary world."

"I…" Gohan wasn't sure what to say. He was trained to fight villains who tried to blow up the world at once. The idea of fighting regular crime had never crossed his mind.

"I know it wasn't Satan that stopped that monster. If you know who did, tell them I said thank you." Cyga turned away from Gohan. "And ask them to try their hand as police officers or something for me." Lighter shouted for Cyga to hurry up, and she walked away from the boy with a nonchalant wave.

The news about Mister Satan was just as baffling. Gohan liked his peaceful life, and he was glad that he and his friends didn't become notorious figures after Cell's defeat. He would have preferred, however, total anonymity for the deed to someone with no integrity taking all the credit for saving the world.

 _I wonder if Vegeta knows yet…_ Gohan pondered as he lifted off. Vegeta was the first one to come to mind simply because it was so easy to imagine his explosive reaction. Hercule Satan lied about killing Cell, and had become so renowned that they were going to name a city after him.

The half-Saiyan, being Cell's true killer, wondered what would happen if the truth ever came out. That, and Cyga's criticisms of his use of his power, occupied his thoughts until he returned home.

* * *

 **I've had a really rocky summer and I'm starting college, two aspects of live that banded together to keep me from putting in much work for this project. I am, however, still writing and should be posting a with at least some semblance of frequency from here on out, especially since I have a couple more chapters actually in their finishing stages right now (Shhh, don't tell anyone. It's a secret.).**

 **I decided to go with a chapter with less action considering the more intense climaxes the first three chapters had. I was nervous to introduce some minor (most likely) one-off characters, but I hope it worked well. Thanks for reading! Comments and criticism are appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 5

"Come on, brat! This can't be that difficult for you!"

Gohan ran along after Vegeta, who was jogging backwards and looking at the boy with his face twisted in some mocking emotion. Gohan was struggling to keep up. They had been running in two-hundred times Earth's gravity for twenty minutes, circling around the Gravity Chamber.

When Gohan first saw that Vegeta was setting the Chamber up to two-hundred times Earth's gravity, he asked for it to be turned down.

When he heard that, Vegeta had laughed more heartily than Gohan had ever heard him laugh in his life.

"Listen to me while you…" Vegeta was going to say "run," but he seemed to decide that was the wrong word for Gohan's movement. "... limp around.

"Your entire life, you've fought like a pitiful child. Whenever you get angry, you try to beat your opponent by raising yourself past their power level like some brute. That only ever worked against Cell. Against opponents like Recoome where you couldn't outstrip your opponent's power level, you failed. You might have had impressive power at your peak, but you didn't fight like a warrior."

"Why are you bringing up a fight from my childhood?" Gohan forced the question out through ragged breaths. "I'm a completely different person now."

Vegeta snorted as if Gohan had made some joke, but his face was stern and serious. "This is a problem that has plagued you in combat since you were a boy. I don't care whether you're a different person or not."

A couple more minutes passed without words between the two. "That's enough running." As soon as Vegeta said that, Gohan stopped and bent forward, his hands set against his knees to keep himself propped up.

"I think… I'm gonna… die…" Sweat pooled on the ground below Gohan. His muscles shouted at him in pain. As he was catching his breath, he realized Vegeta was also shouting at him.

Gohan had learned over the years that when an angry Saiyan is yelling, he should be listening.

"Pay attention, brat!"

"Huh?" Gohan looked up and saw Vegeta a few paces away, prepared to attack. He moved to receive a blow as fast as he could, but Vegeta struck before he was ready. Gohan staggered back, hands gravitating towards his stomach where Vegeta's knee had made contact. The weariness imposed on him by running, the gravity, and the pain hit him at once, and he toppled to the ground.

"Who told you you were allowed to fall over?!" Vegeta barked.

"No one…" The boy moaned out.

"Address me as 'sir!'" Despite the pain he was in, Gohan clearly recognized Vegeta was getting a kick out of this.

"No one, sir…"

"What are you doing on the ground, then?! Get up! If you were listening, you would have known that we're going to be sparring now!"

Gohan pushed himself up with trembling arms and wiped his mouth of spit that must have flown when Vegeta had hit him.

As he rose up, he felt Vegeta move forward for another attack. Once again, he was hardly ready, and the attack was devastating. Gohan still had trouble keeping himself from falling to the blow, but at least this time, he went down to only one knee.

"A warrior should have the pride to not allow himself to fall, even to the strongest blows! Under that logic, I can't continue to pretend you are a warrior. For the time being, you are a worm! Come at me!"

Vegeta was definitely enjoying mocking him. _I signed up for this,_ Gohan reminded himself as he stood to face Vegeta again.

And fell again.

And again.

"Come on, I'm not even trying! I did the same running you did, and I'm putting out way more power than you!"

 _Is there any point in getting up? He'll just knock me down and yell at me. What can I do?_

"I can tell what you're thinking, worm. A real Saiyan would never fall. And if he did, he would never stop getting up again until he won, even with a power difference that he couldn't make up for.

"If you're going to surpass the level of strength you possessed during the Cell Games, you should be more like a Saiyan. Or is it simply a lie that you have blood from my race?"

 _I came here because I knew I needed a beating like this to get stronger…_ but now, suffering it, overcoming it seems impossible…

"You're definitely doing a lot of thinking right now, brat. If it's not about how to fight your opponent, you should get rid of it. And if you don't do something soon..." Vegeta thrust his palm out towards Gohan's prone form. An energy ball manifested itself from the end of his arm and began to grow in size and power. "... I will."

When someone intends on attacking their opponent, it's possible that the attacker's intent to kill, or lack thereof, can be broadcast by their _ki_. When Gohan sensed Vegeta's intent, he knew he would die if he didn't move.

Gohan lifted his left arm to the ground and pushed away with all his might, barely rolling out of the way of Vegeta's energy blast. He raised himself up slowly. He was barely able to get a foothold in time to see Vegeta preparing the same knee he had used on him many times today.

Gohan put out his left hand and braced it with his right arm. Vegeta's knee connected with everything he had, but he pushed back and was able to nullify its force entirely.

 _Yes!_

Gohan was too excited by landing a blow on the Saiyan to be ready for the next move, and Vegeta's fist connected with his head in a vicious hook that sent him sprawling to the ground.

 _Darn it!_

"The worm ascends to the level of a bug! If your answer to what I'm going to do doesn't put me at a disadvantage, you may as well just be running away!"

Vegeta leapt up over Gohan, preparing to come down with an axe kick to finish him off, but Gohan managed to again get out of the way as Vegeta's heel smashed into the floor of the Gravity Chamber.

Vegeta leapt into close quarters with Gohan after his miss and tried to sweep his feet out from under him. Gohan saw Vegeta chamber an attack from his backhand as he did it—the most minuscule of motions. Gohan realized, _There's a chance in there!_

Gohan leapt over Vegeta's foot, and was able to sense the movement of Vegeta's next attack: a cross that would hit him in the head if he hadn't seen it coming. Gohan grabbed ahold of Vegeta's arm and gave him his best throw. Unfortunately, the technique was sloppy, and Gohan threw Vegeta with far less power than he intended.

 _That's no good! He can come back from it!_

And come back Vegeta did. He landed on his feet and began to barrage Gohan with energy blasts which he could barely swipe away. Vegeta finished his barrage with a powerful wave, which Gohan caught and flung up towards the ceiling of the chamber. When he directed his attention back to the man himself, he was surprised to find Vegeta in his face again.

"It's as I said!" Vegeta's closed fist slammed into Gohan's face, mimicking the last time he had been knocked down. "If every move you make is the same as running away, you won't stand a chance!"

Gohan cried out in pain as his back slammed into the floor. He rebounded up, propelled himself with _ki_ to flip and land on his feet, then leapt back into the fray with a determined cry.

"Look at you, brat!" Vegeta smirked. "I hold the power advantage, yet you're finally fighting back! Almost like there's some Saiyan in there after all!" Vegeta launched a point-blank energy blast that Gohan was hardly able to block. "Still, I thought you'd do a little more whining before you decided to speak with your hands!"

It was now that Gohan noticed he no longer felt anywhere near as heavy as he had just after running. Was this really two hundred times Earth's gravity?

"Let's play a game." Gohan was panting despite feeling better now than he had when he came into the Chamber. Vegeta, on the other hand, had hardly broken a sweat. "If you can get one good blow on me, we will stop training for today. Until then, you will not leave this room."

"You're on." Gohan pulled out all stops and transformed into a Super Saiyan. He felt his pool of energy (more of a dried up pond at this point, considering how rusty he was) flood past its own limits. Even with the boost, Gohan knew he would hardly be able to match Vegeta if the prince tried his hardest in his base form.

"The power you're putting out is still pathetic, even as a Super Saiyan! This might be able to almost close the gap between us, but you're still too weak to beat me!" Vegeta roared as he reached the maximum power of his natural state. "This much will be enough."

"Vegeta, you told me that a real Saiyan would never back down. Even in a situation like this!" Gohan hurled himself at Vegeta to seize an early advantage.

"I also told you to call me 'sir!'" Vegeta swept aside Gohan's first attack and landed a sharp jab that snapped his head sideways. They exchanged more blows in small bursts, each one pointed to gain an advantage. Unfortunately for Gohan, only Vegeta's blows met their mark. When Gohan realized scrapping with Vegeta wasn't going to work, he leapt away.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Vegeta pushed off the ground and closed the distance Gohan created in an instant, but the boy didn't panic. Vegeta acted perfectly for Gohan's plan.

Vegeta landed almost face-to-face with Gohan, so close to him that every step would move Gohan laterally out of the prince's range and make him harder to hit. So, when Gohan saw Vegeta preparing an uppercut, he stepped entirely around his opponent and pulled his arm back for his own attack: a chop to the neck.

Gohan hadn't considered the repercussions of Vegeta's choice, however. By throwing the uppercut, Vegeta had put his arm in a position that acted as a preparation for him to elbow behind him. Gohan realized the setup all too late, and Vegeta's elbow landed square in his solar plexus.

Gohan couldn't stop himself from crying out in mixed parts shock and pain. Vegeta twisted around as he threw out a kick that sent Gohan into the center spire of the chamber.

Vegeta cracked his knuckles and chuckled in delight. "Now you're getting it. Unfortunately for you, just 'getting it' isn't what it takes to beat a hardened Saiyan elite!"

Gohan stood to his full height and exhaled. _I have to do this, or I'll never be able to face my father in the afterlife!_ He dropped down and cupped his hands behind his hip.

"Ka-me-ha-me…"

"Really? Trying to waste all your energy now? If you think a thoughtless all-out attack like that will finish this, you're sorely—"

"Ha!" The blue beam of light erupted from Gohan's now outstretched hands, tearing through the space between the half-Saiyan and the pureblood at breakneck speeds.

"—mistaken." Vegeta raised one hand to stop it, but the beam exploded just before it hit his hand, expelling dense energy throughout the Chamber. "What?!"

Vegeta felt Gohan's energy rising again, but the dispersing _ki_ from his feint made it difficult for Vegeta to tell what Gohan was going to do with this chance.

Vegeta wasn't sure where to guard, so Gohan's knee easily met its mark in Vegeta's gut with all the force of the youngest Super Saiyan. Vegeta gasped for air. "Brat… you…!"

Vegeta thrust his hand into Gohan's chest, and fired a blast that knocked him away and sent him down to the ground on his back. The blonde hue disappeared from Gohan's hair.

"Agh…" Gohan sat up, supporting himself on an arm. "You didn't say you were going to hit me after I won… sir."

Vegeta scoffed. "Whatever. I'm finished with you for today. Go home."

"Thank you!"

Gohan was content to leave Vegeta to his own devices for the day. He was amazed at how light he felt when he stepped outside to Earth's gravity. Even though he had needed to turn Super Saiyan and could only land one blow on Vegeta, his progress was palpable. Gohan felt as if he was capable of anything.

Gohan took flight to return home, but took his time, doing loops and enjoying the experience. It had been a long time since he had truly enjoyed flying.

* * *

 **Finally, Gohan and Vegeta get into the meat of things! I had fun writing this chapter, and I hope it was worth the wait! As always, all criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading!  
**


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